The Association for Behavior Analysis International® (ABAI) is a nonprofit membership organization with the mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and practice.

Event Detail

44th Annual Convention; San Diego, CA; 2018

Event Details

Opening Event and Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis Award Ceremony

Saturday, May 26, 2018

8:00 AM–9:20 AM

Marriott Marquis, Grand Ballroom 7-13

Instruction Level: Basic

CE Instructor: Marcus Jackson Marr, Ph.D.

Chair: Marcus Jackson Marr (Georgia Tech)

Humanitarian Award: The Power of Two: Families and Professionals Working as Partners for Children With Autism to Become Independent, Productive, and Happy

LILIANA MAYO (Centro Ann Sullivan del Peru)

Dr. Liliana Mayo received her doctoral training in the Department of Applied Behavior Science at the University of Kansas. She is the founder and executive director of Centro Ann Sullivan del Peru (CASP), in Lima, Peru, which serves more than 400 students with different abilities (especially those with the most severe limitations) and their families. Dr. Mayo is a professor of special education at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and the Universidad Catolica, in Peru, and an Adjunct Faculty Member in the Department of Applied Behavior Sciences at the University of Kansas. Also she is a member of the National Council of Education in Peru. She is the representative of CASP in the formal cooperative agreement between CASP and the Schiefelbusch Institute for Research in Life Span Studies at the University of Kansas, in the United States. Dr. Mayo has received numerous awards and recognitions due to her contributions to the development of successful practices that promote progress and full inclusion of people with different abilities in society through the high participation of parents in the School of Families, and the implementation of effective educational programs following a Functional Natural Curriculum. Among them are the Queen Sofia of Spain 1999, Award for Rehabilitation and Integration, the International Dissemination of Applied Behavior Analysis award in 2000, the Peruvian Government that is the Order 'El Sol del Peru' in the Commander Grade in 2007. She was honored by the government of Panama with the Order 'Maria Ossa de Amador' in the Grade of Grand Medal in 2012 and for the government of Domenican Republic, with 'Christopher Columbus' Heraldic Order' in 2014.

Abstract: One key to the success of our students at the Centro Ann Sullivan in Peru- CASP is what we call the "Power of Two," where families and professionals work as a team. Dr. Mayo founded The School of Families of CASP 39 years ago with just 8 students and their families and now educates more than 450 families each year. At CASP, families are partners in the education of their children. Together with CASP professionals, they work as a team to provide the most comprehensive education for the students. CASP families receive a total of 171 hours of training annually, through group and individual sessions. Each family receives an Individual Educational Plan (IEP), updated annually, that outlines the skills they need to learn to be the best parents and teachers for their child. These skills are then taught in the classroom, in the community, and five times a year individual family training occurs in the home of the student. CASP believes the whole family is important to the success of the student and as such, twice a year more than 400 siblings of our students attend training to learn skills for how to be a sibling and also a teacher. As a result of many years of continuous training, some CASP families are now creating a multiplicative effect by training other families across Peru through the Mother-to-Mother Program and internationally through long distance education.

Scientific Translation: Lost in Translation

MICHAEL PERONE (West Virginia University)

Michael Perone earned his Ph.D. in 1981 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He was an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington before joining the faculty at West Virginia University in 1984, where he is a professor of psychology and an associate dean. Much of his current research is concerned with developing laboratory models of behavioral processes involved in problem behavior such as failures of self-control. He has served the field of behavior analysis as an associate editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and as President of ABAI. He currently serves as Coordinator of the ABAI Accreditation Board.

Abstract: Behavior analysis has been a translational science almost from the beginning. Even as Skinner warned against the mistake of allowing issues of application to affect the development of a science in its early stages (in Behavior of Organisms, 1938), he was already at work extending to human behavior the principles he had discovered with rats. This work would eventually appear in Science and Human Behavior (1953), Verbal Behavior (1957), and a series of papers on ways to increase the effectiveness of instruction (starting in 1954). At a more practical level, he invented the "air crib" to simplify infant care, a missile guidance system based on the visual acuity of pigeons, and a machine to promote student learning. Because translation is so deeply embedded in the behavior analytic Zeitgeist, it is easy to lose sight of it. In this brief talk, I will outline the development of behavior analysis as a translational science and describe some contemporary examples.

International Dissemination of Behavior Analysis: Carrying Science and Practice in the Suitcase

MARTHA COSTA HÜBNER (University of São Paulo)

Dr. Hubner is a professor of experimental psychology at the Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo, and was coordinator of the graduate program in the experimental department from 2004 to 2010. She is also past president of the Brazilian Association of Psychology and of the Brazilian Association of Behavioral Medicine and Psychology. She conducts research at the Laboratory for the Study of Verbal Operants involving managing processes in the acquisition of symbolic behaviors such as reading, writing, and verbal episodes. She is currently immersed in three areas of research: investigating the empirical relations between verbal and nonverbal behavior, analyzing the processes of control by minimal units in reading, and studying verbal behavior programs for children with autism spectrum disorders.

Abstract: Under the leadership of its Executive Council, ABAI has been crossing geographical borders for more than four decades, disseminating behavior analysis globally. I have had the honor to be part of this dissemination, inspired by the belief that we can change lives all around the world. Although this award is for people or organizations demonstrating significant and sustained contributions to the dissemination/development of behavior analysis outside the United States, behavior analysts in the United States have long been role models for me; I have huge gratitude for these pioneers. Awareness of ABAI and of leading behavior analysts in the United States started early in my career: in 1982 I went to Harvard to meet B. F. Skinner, and in 1990 I was already a contact person in Brazil for ABAI. Brazilian professors in behavior analysis shaped my interest in international development, and Brazil now has one of the largest communities of behavior analysts. One of the ingredients of our success was the constant presence of model scientists and practitioners; North American behavior analysts were invited to visit our country to help build the field there. Fred Keller was the first, and we also benefited from the visiting professorships of such luminaries as Murray Sidman and Charles Catania all of whom made it clear that without science there could be no solid progress in our field; and without practice, no future. With these two elements in mind, we went abroad to convince people of the real importance of behavior analysis.

Abstract: The Graduate Program in Behavioral Sciences (Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Ciencias do Comportamento, PPG-CdC,) of the University of Brasilia (UnB), Brazil awards both Masters and Ph.D. degrees. It has played a pivotal role in the establishment and development of behavior analysis as a science and as a profession in Brazil since 1964, then under the leadership of Fred S. Keller and Carolina M. Bori and the collaboration of Rodolpho Azzi, John Gilmour Sherman, Robert Berryman and James R. Nazzaro. Faculty members of the graduate program at UnB have a good record of publications in both national and international scientific journals in behavior analysis (including the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, the Brazilian Journal of Behavior Analysis, the Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis), further attesting to the enduring contributions of the graduate program to the development of behavior analysis.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will be able to: (1) define and give two original examples of POAMs who are also BCBAs and be able to define BCBA; (2) understand the bidirectional nature of translational science; (3) understand Skinner's influence in establishing behavior analysis as a translational science; (4) identify and describe the importance of science and practice and the United States to the international development of behavior analysis; (5) describe the Principle 70/30 of CASP of Families participation; (6) know the number of hours of training each family receives in CASP; (6) summarize the history of behavior analysis at the University of Brasilia, from the beginnings of the graduate program to current days; (7) describe the main research areas and contributions of UnB faculty and students to the experimental, applied, and conceptual behavior analysis.